Becoming a GMail Ninja

A lot of you know about the many keyboard shortcuts in GMail. Most of you probably use the most common ones. Today I want to issue out a challenge to you: completely stop using your mouse in GMail. Rely entirely on your keyboard. Not only is it possible but I personally find it more productive. As I always switch browser tabs using [cmd][tab #], using gmail without a mouse can be a time saver.

Setup

Let’s start with some settings. I like to use a compact black theme to save up on my laptop battery and display more items. Some Labs will need to be activated:

Settings: Display density: compact

Settings/Themes: Color Theme dark to save on laptop battery

Settings/General:

Default Reply: reply to all

Enable Undo Send

Keyboard Shortcuts On

Settings/Labs:

Enable Undo Send

Enable Unread Message Icon

Learn how to use Labels

This is the most useful feature of GMail. Make sure to label your emails as they come through. Use precise filters to automatically label them into categories that make sense to you. This will allow you to automatically sort and process your emails as they go through.

Navigating through common folders / places

Here’s how to navigate between the different places. This is the [alt][tab] / [⌘][tab] of Gmail.

Learn how to quickly go back and forth between them. Here are the ones I find most useful :